30 August, 2007

National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) has agreed to manage the Adverse Medicines Event Line (AME Line) with funding from the Department of Health and Ageing for the next 12 months,announced Board Chairman, Dr Roger Boyd.

This will allow the AME line to continue providing a crucial service to consumers who wish to report adverse medicine experiences or to discuss medicine safety with a registered pharmacist.

NPS already provides two other telephone services nationally: Medicines Line which provides consumers with independent information about their prescription, over-the-counter, and complementary medicines; and the Therapeutic Advice Information Service (TAIS) for health professionals.

“The service provided by the AME line is a natural complement to the range of other telephone information services NPS already provides to the public and health professionals,” explained Dr Boyd. “The AME Line is a means for consumers to report their adverse experiences from medicines and for these reports to contribute to Australia’s pharmacovigilance effort.”

“NPS’s funding will allow the AME Line to be further evaluated and for its links with Medicines Line to be more carefully explored,” added Dr Boyd.

All three lines are staffed by registered pharmacists.

Medicines Line (1300 888 763) and AME Line (1300 134 237) are funded by NPS and operated by Mater Pharmacy Services (Mater Health Services, South Brisbane).

ENDS